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Malaysia's Election Commission set to announce polling date

Only voters who registered before December 31st 2012 will be eligible to vote in the country's 13th general election. (AFP: Mohd Rasfan)

Electoral speculation is reaching fever pitch in Malaysia with the Election Commission meeting on Wednesday April 10 to decide nominations and polling dates.

Ahead of the meeting, the chairman of the Election Commission, Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof, held a briefing for the diplomatic community.

116 foreign ambassadors attended the session.

The Election Commission has also confirmed in Malaysian media reports, that only voters who registered before December 31st last year will be eligible to vote in the country's 13th general election.

Nearly 2,500,000 new voters have registered for the election with most of them set to vote for the first time.

The youth vote could decide the outcome in this crucial poll where the ruling party is being challenged by a strong opposition.

Parliament was dissolved last week and on the weekend Prime Minister Najib Razak from the Barisan Nasional released his election manifesto.

The leader of the Opposition Pakatan Rakyat (People's Pact), Anwar Ibrahim, has accused the Government of plagiarising its policies.

"The absence of fresh ideas was so disastrous that Dato' Seri Najib had to swallow the bitter pill and plagiarise Pakatan Rakyat's proposals to be incorporated into the BN Manifesto," he said.

Anwar is campaigning on an anti-corruption platform.

On twitter he rallied his supporters, tweeting "After five decades of BN starting to care about the people? Too little too late. Vote for change!"

The Prime Minister Najib Razak has visited Ipoh with the New Straits Times newspaper reporting that he told voters from the Chinese community to "believe me, the future will be much better and brighter if BN is in power".

"The best is yet to come," he said.

Economic prosperity is the focus of Prime Minister Najib's campaign with the BN election manifesto titled "A Promise of Hope".

On twitter, Prime Minister Najib spoke to supporters about his party manifesto but also took time to reflect on the death of Margaret Thatcher.

"Margaret Thatcher was a formidable figure on the world stage. Her strong leadership and sense of conviction was an inspiration to many."